6 Days Paris Itinerary: Normandy Family Travel
6 days Paris Itinerary: Normandy and Rouen
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Our family loves to celebrate with travel. My youngest son graduated from high school this year. To celebrate, we headed to France for our trip to Paris and Normandy. After years of dreaming about this, we decided to travel from Paris to Normandy. My family is full of history lovers, so visiting Normandy, France, got everyone excited. We had wanted to do this trip for years. In the past, I had been nervous planning this ambitious of a trip. We would be traveling using planes, trains, taxis, and buses to get around. Only one of us speaks high school French from 30 years ago. However, everything went better than imagined. We had an amazing time. So great, I want to share it all with you!
💡Want to book your own France adventure with points? Check out my guide to saving big on Paris and Normandy travel -> European Family Vacation Points and Miles
Day 1: Paris to Rouen
We landed in Paris after a long flight from Nashville, Tennessee, ready to kick off our 6-day France adventure. Instead of navigating trains right away, we opted for a taxi from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Gare Saint-Lazare—an easy choice for four tired travelers. The ride cost about €60 and saved us the hassle of transfers.
At the train station, we planned to buy tickets to Rouen using the SNCF Connect kiosks, but for reasons unknown, the machines didn’t cooperate. We ended up waiting in line to speak with a ticket agent. In hindsight, we could’ve booked online or through the SNCF app, but with potential delays at immigration, I didn’t want to commit to a departure time too early.
The train ride to Rouen took under two hours and was smooth and scenic. Once we arrived, we made the 15-minute uphill walk to our hotel: the Hyatt Place Rouen, our home base for exploring Normandy.
After a long day of travel, we briefly rested. We headed to the restaurant at 7, when it opened for dinner. Our dinner was good and fresh. Three of us had Filet Mignon and one had the lamb. We all agreed it was excellent. It was raining this evening, so we all decided to rest up for the next few days.
Day 2: Exploring Rouen
The next day, we got up around 8 in the morning. We enjoyed the breakfast buffet at our hotel (19 euros a person), then headed out to the city center of Rouen. The Nutella crepes were a huge hit with our family.
We spent the day exploring Rouen. Mondays are not the best days to visit Rouen, but it was the day we had available. We made the most of it. Our family loved the vibe of this small town.
Sculpture of Joan of Arc who was burned at the stake here in Rouen
Day 3: D-Day Beaches Tour from Caen
On day 3, we caught an early train from Rouen to Caen. We had booked a D-Day beaches tour with the Caen Memorial Museum. You can check that out here.
We arrived early in Caen to drop off our bags at our hotel, the Hôtel La Fontaine Caen Centre, and then head out for the tour. Caen is a more industrial city than Rouen. When we got off the train, my son commented, “This is so different from Caen.“ I will mention that I looked at staying in Bayeux for the next two nights. It seemed a more charming choice. However, they are only 20 minutes apart by train, so either would work for this portion of the trip.
Our hotel in Caen I found through internet searches. The only hotel chain I recognized was Best Western, so I went off TripAdvisor reviews. We picked the Hôtel la Fontaine Caen Centre.
We usually stay in fancy hotels, so I was a little nervous when I walked up. However, this place was great. The owners (brothers) were so nice and accommodating. My French is not great, and they both spoke perfect English. We ended up with two rooms here for our family. We bought one deluxe and one standard. We ended up giving the Deluxe to our boys so they could spread out. Here is a pic of the standard room. We added breakfast to our booking, and they had a great spread in the mornings. Don’t skip the croissants and homemade bread! I will mention that as an American, I didn’t check to see if the hotel had air conditioning. It did not. However, the cool breeze in the evening with the window open was fine for our stay. I usually travel with a fan but did not bring it this trip. If I were to go back, I would make sure to pack it. I would definitely stay here again, regardless. We ended up really like this location and town.
Standard room the deluxe definitely had more room and a couch
Day 4: Mont St. Michel Day Trip
We had an early train to Bayeux to catch our next tour. On this day, we were heading to Mont St. Michel. Spoiler alert! It was excellent. Money and time well spent.
🧭 How We Booked This Tour
We booked our Mont St. Michel day trip through Viator. It includes round-trip transportation from Bayeux, a guided walk through the abbey, and free time to explore the island.
💡 Why we loved it:
Easy pickup from the train station
Knowledgeable guide with great historical context
Plenty of time to wander and grab lunch
🎟️ Booking tips:
Reserve early—this tour fills up fast, especially in summer
If you're staying in Caen, take the early train to Bayeux
Bring layers—it gets windy on the island!
Bayeux was a charming city. It would have been a great place to stay. However, I am still glad we stayed in Caen since we wanted to return to the Caen Memorial Museum. The train makes it easy to access one town from another.
Day 5: Caen Memorial Museum
We explored the Caen Memorial Museum. We spent several hours here. I have more information on the museum here, including using the bus system. I will say the museum was fantastic, and we are glad we spent the day here. After we finished up at the museum, we took a train back to Paris. We had booked the Paris Hilton Opera House due to its location close to the Gare du Lazare. Our tired feet were thankful we had planned this out ahead of time. It was the perfect location for this trip.
Day 6: Versailles Day Trip from Paris
On our last day, we headed to the Palace of Versailles. From Gare Du Lazare we took the Rer-C line straight to Versailles. It was 2.50 a person each way. We did pay a $2.00 for the cardboard ticket in addition to the fare. If we had iPhones we could have bought them with our phone for everyone but the Android app does not have that feature. This was my second time in Versailles. However, my first visit in spring. We had perfect weather, a spring day in May. I encourage you to read more about it here. I consider it a must-do day trip from Paris.
Final Thoughts
Planning a fast-paced trip to Paris and Normandy with a family of four felt a little intimidating at first—but everything came together beautifully. I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to make this adventure happen. If we could pull it off, trust me—you can too!
You don’t want to miss these other posts from our adventures in France:
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Happy Traveling!
Julie
